It's that time of year when I feel rather giddy. After the long dark days of winter, and let's face it, quite a miserable spring so far, May and the months ahead are full of promise, opportunities, and excitement as the annual round of major garden fairs, festivals and open gardens begin. Each event has its own charm, depending on what time of the year it is held and where.
Going to my first show of the season last week was an absolute delight. There’s something about RHS Malvern Spring Festival that gladdens my heart.
Firstly, the setting is sublime, with the glorious Malvern Hills providing a stunning backdrop and the sheer size of the immaculate Three Counties Showground means there is plenty of space to wander around and more importantly with lots of seating to relax.
The Floral Marquee has a dominating position near the entrance, and you can see visitors debating whether to go in there first to see the 50 nurseries which are exhibiting in the 190 metre long marquee or plough on ahead to see the show gardens.
As it was early morning I marched resolutely onwards before the crowds came, to get a good look at the five show gardens as well as the feature gardens.
It was easy to see why the Bee Positive, Bee Kind , Bee Aware garden was awarded a gold medal by the judges.
Designed by Rock Ford and Katie Gentle for global charity, Bees for Development, the beehives take centre stage, as all around the planting is designed to attract and feed bees with vegetables, herbs and perennial flowers. I particularly liked the living roof of the kitchen,and the area below. In fact, I wanted to leap over the ropes and settle there for an hour, listening to the bees and admiring the layout of the garden. So many good ideas to take home here...
The Greener Gloucestershire NHS Garden designed by Laura Ashton Phillips is also full of plants to attract wildlife but has been created as a calming environment for patients at the Gloucester Royal Hospital. A well deserved Silver Medal for Laura ….
The pretty, soothing palette of colours and a running stream appeal to the senses, there are wide pathways so the garden is completely accessible. It's an inviting space to connect with nature after being in the sterile world of a hospital, something which has been proven to lower stress levels and improve patient recovery rates.
Meanwhile, Jamie Langlands stole the show with his design for The Wildlife Trusts' "Wilder Spaces Garden”
It features a pond, a creek, native wildflowers and a wide variety of habitats for wildlife and encouraging diversity. Mind you, it's also an inspiring and restful garden for humans...and this human loved it.
So did the judges here at RHS Malvern. They awarded this garden a Gold Medal,, Best in Show and the Best Construction for a garden .
I was there when the judges came over and presented Jamie and his team with the awards. After the smiles for the photographers, the guys had the longest of group hugs and the biggest grins on their faces.
Speaking briefly with Jamie afterwards, he couldn't contain his delight. "It's amazing. This is the type of garden that's more me, and I'm thrilled for my contractors who worked so hard in quite tough conditions. It's great that they have been given this award."
A large, 25 metre dome which dominated the Show Gardens area was certainly a talking point. Going inside Leaf Tropicana was quite a revelation, leaving an oh so quintessentially English country festival and finding yourself in a tropical wonderland of heat, humidity and lush greenery.
The vision, the scale of the planting (3,000 plants), the height of the trees and being confronted by a huge waterfall are breathtakingly successful. There's even a little bar to sit at and have a drink.
Chatting with designer Peter Dowle, who runs Leaf Creative, a plant nursery and garden design service in Gloucestershire, I was surprised how relaxed he was after a build which took 14 men 12 days to construct.“So what happens to all these plants after the show” I asked Peter. Apparently every plant is recycled. Many are hired out for events and he pointed out one huge plant which has been on display 5 times at different events.
So, these were the four gardens I very much enjoyed t, but every single garden here had something to admire or an idea to squirrel away for future use.
Of course it's not just the gardens that visitors come to see at RHS Malvern. This year there seemed to be an increasing amount of talks and demonstrations by top florists, garden experts and designers, cooks plus familiar faces from the telly, such as James Alexander Sinclair, Frances Tophill, Alan Titchmarsh, Adam Frost,,Mark Diacono, Greg Wallace et al.
It's lovely to take a pause for half an hour and listen to knowledgeable and amiable speakers, and they were very popular with visitors.
The retail offer at this spring festival is top notch too. Everything from clothes to garden antiques, thousands of plants in perfect condition, garden seating parasols, plant pots , tools etc which you never knew you never needed were tempting so many. Artisan and local food and drinks producers were selling well too indoors and with something new to taste or take home.
As Thursday drew to a close, it was time to go and at last visit the Floral Marquee on the way out. With the crowds thinning out, there was space to see everything that the plant nurseries had to offer and time to talk to experts in their field of speciality. As suspected, I couldn't resist the lure of seeing plants at their peak and a tray of carnations and three stunning pots of tulips soon found themselves in the boot of my car.
As I made my way home happily, I realised two things: what an entertaining and motivational day it had been, and also that RHS Malvern has become my favourite festival.
RHS Malvern is being held next year from 9 - 12 May 2024.
